Enda Kenny’s comments on emigration a disgrace – Carthy

Sinn Féin Midlands
North West EU candidate, Matt Carthy, has
described An Taoiseach Enda Kenny as “out of touch”.

Carthy made his
comments following remarks made by An Taoiseach at the Davos Economic Forum
stating “many leave to get experience, many leave and go to places around the
world and come back with that experience.”

Carthy
said:

“An
Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s claims that young people are leaving to get experience
shows how out of touch he is on the reality of emigration. These are the same
kind of comments we heard from Fianna Fáil Ministers at the start of this
crisis and back in the 1980s. This attitude from our Taoiseach is not good
enough. Young people are being forced out because there are no jobs. The
reality is that many of them will never come back.

“Enda
Kenny does not seem to understand the impact that this is having on families and
communities across Ireland. A whole generation is leaving. How can any
Taoiseach stand over a situation where so many young highly educated people are
leaving and do nothing to address it? Does he not see the extent of this
problem in his home county of Mayo?

“Enda
Kenny doesn’t care. Fine Gael doesn’t care. The more young people that go,
the less bad the unemployment figures look. But the parents and families left
behind and the young people forced to go deserve better. They deserve a
government that cares and that puts tackling forced emigration at the top of
its agenda.”